Officials at Tianjin Women's Prison: “No Medical Parole Unless She Is Dying”

Name: Ping Yurong
Gender: Female
Age: 59
Address: Ninghe County, Tianjin City
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 3rd, 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Tianjin Women's Prison
City: Tianjin
Persecution Suffered: Forced labour, brainwashing, beatings, imprisonment, torture, forced-feedings, home ransacked, detention

Tianjin Women's Prison officials recently notified Ms. Ping Yurong's family that her lungs were filling with fluid. When the family requested that Ms. Ping be released for medical treatment, the prison officials said that they “will not consider granting medical parole unless she is dying.” According to medical experts, fluid on the lungs is serious and needs to be treated promptly. Ms. Ping's situation is worrisome because the conditions at the prison are poor and her condition is so serious. Because the prison authorities even bothered to notify her family, it is suspected that the prison is acknowledging that Ms. Ping is seriously ill. By notifying the family, the prison seems to be attempting to evade responsibility for her condition.

Those who know Ms. Ping say that she is kind, genuine, hardworking, and honest. She is highly respected amongst friends, relatives, and neighbours, and everyone agrees she is truly a good person. Yet the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials have repeatedly arrested her because she practises Falun Gong. Of the past 14 years since the Communism regime launched the persecution of Falun Gong, Ms. Ping has spent almost 10 of them in either a prison or a forced labor camp. She has suffered tremendously both mentally and physically. Now that her life is at risk, the officials still refuse to consider giving her medical parole.

Under communist rule, the comment, “No medical parole will be granted unless he/she is dying” has been the consistent response from officials of the prisons and forced labour camps to Falun Gong practitioners and their families. What exactly does “dying” mean? Two recent cases are good examples.

Mr. Zhou Xiangyang went on a hunger strike in Gangbei Prison to protest the brutal torture he was enduring. At the beginning of last year, his heart rate was less than 50 beats per minute and he was on the verge of death. However, he was still not classified as “dying” by official standards. Warden Li Guoyu told Mr. Zhou's family that he would only “think about granting medical parole when he was at the point of death.”

Mr. Hua Lianyou from Tianjin was arrested along with his wife, Ms. Tian Zongli, on April 24th, 2012. He went on a hunger strike on May 23rd, 2012, to protest the detention. Nearly four months later, while being treated in the prison hospital, he was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Beichen Court in Tianjin on September 11th, 2012. Mr. Hua was not able to take care of himself at that point. According to the prison doctor, his internal organs had failed and his life was at risk. His family made very strong requests for his release, but they were once again turned down. The prison authorities responded in the same way: “Medical parole will not be granted unless he is dying.”

Several Falun Gong practitioners at Tianjin Women's Prison have died because of this policy. The practitioners were not granted medical parole until they had been tortured to near death. They were then released and passed away shortly afterward. Some became permanently disabled. There are many such examples. Ms. Ping's family is currently very worried about her.

Since the regime launched the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, Ms. Ping has been repeatedly arrested and detained because she adheres to her faith and belief in Falun Gong's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. She was sentenced to three years of forced labour on February 15th, 2001. In the labor camp, the guards employed many torture methods to try to force her to renounce her belief Falun Gong. Three years later, her prison term was unlawfully extended several times. In order to protest the detention, Ms. Ping went on a hunger strike that lasted for more than four months. She was brutally force-fed by the guards. Her face would be covered with blood after each force-feeding.

Ms. Ping was again arrested while posting materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong on October 3rd, 2007. That same night, her home was ransacked. Without notifying her family, the Ninghe County Court and the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) secretly held a hearing on May 24th, 2008, and sentenced Ms. Ping to seven years in prison. She has been incarcerated in Tianjin Women's Prison, No. 4 Ward, ever since. Every day, she is forced to sit on a small stool from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. For 13 hours a day, she must sit in the same position and is beaten if she moves just slightly. She is forced to listen to programmes and watch videos slandering Falun Gong and its teacher. The guards assigned criminal inmates to monitor her and ordered them to torture her in an attempt to force her to renounce her faith.

Practitioners follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. They peacefully and rationally clarify the truth to people about the persecution of Falun Gong. The do this to uphold the basic human rights of freedom of belief and freedom of speech, and they are protecting the right of each person to know the truth. The persecution of Falun Gong is truly a crime committed against all people. It is a farce that the Chinese Constitution claims to “respect and ensure human rights.” The prison and forced labour camp officials continue to enforce policies that were secretly put in place by Jiang Zemin, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution]. The former leader of the CCP directed persecutory policies against Falun Gong practitioners to “ruin their reputations, bankrupt them financially, and destroy them physically.”

We ask for help to rescue Ms. Ping so that she can be reunited with her family. We also would like to admonish the officials of the Tianjin City public security system and those who have participated in persecuting Falun Gong practitioners at Tianjin Women's Prison: Please do not continue to go down a ruinous path. Good will be rewarded with good and evil will receive retribution. Wang Lijun and Bo Xilai are examples of what happens to those who persecute Falun Gong practitioners. We hope that those who still have illusions about the Party will wake up. Quit the CCP and its affiliated organisations to ensure a bright future for you and your family.

Contact Information for Tianjin Women's Prison
Address: Tianjin City, Nankai District, Lingbin Road, #199, Zip Code 300381
Phone: +86-22-23072069